The BOM function automatically lists all parts in a design, and calculates the board cost based on current prices by DIGIkey. This is fantastic, when the design and the components fixed to it is indeed the finished product.

However, when the attached component is, for example, a $0.10 IC socket, which will eventually hold a €15 microprocessor chip, the BOM becomes wildly inaccurate. The same is true when the used component does not have a DIGIkey equivalent, and therefore comes up without a (live) price.

Choosing 'Properties' from the Schematic menu allows me to add the _PARTPRICE variable and enter a value, from which I would expect is used in the BOM if the appropriate live DIGIkey price retrieval fails, but it doesn't. Am I understanding or using this feature wrong?

Occasional parts not attached to the board (like the microprocessor chip) can be entered in the schematic and simply placed outside the board outline in the layout, but in quantity these floating parts become messy and confusing so manually calculating the BOM is still in most cases more efficient.

Wouldn't it be possible to define parts in the schematic, which DO turn up in the BOM, but are HIDDEN in the lay out, as they are not relevant to the board itself. This would make BOM a much more useable tool.